“Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego.”
President Donald Trump said those words during a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, on Oct. 5 after describing the war with Iran and high gas prices as “a small price to pay” for keeping the country safe. For the Point Loma Nazarene University community, the remarks reference two cities closely tied to the military presence surrounding the university. According to the San Diego Military Advisory Council, approximately 115,165 active-duty service members are stationed in San Diego, and 356,000 defense-related jobs exist.
Within hours, California leaders responded to Trump’s statement. “After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California, Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego,” Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass posted on X that “the role of a president is to protect the country, not to actively threaten it and encourage attacks on American lives.”
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria wrote that his city is neither “collateral damage” nor “expendable.”
“Keep our city out of your reckless war talk,” Gloria said on X.
Criticism also came from Trump’s own allies. County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Navy veteran whom Trump endorsed in the race for California’s 48th Congressional District, wrote he “vehemently” disagreed with the president’s statement.
“No American city is expendable, and no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage,” Desmond said.
White House communications director Steven Cheung said in an X post that the media reaction was “not rooted in reality.” Cheung said Trump was describing the threat U.S. cities would have faced if Iran had not been stopped from obtaining nuclear weapons, not encouraging an attack.
A few weeks later, President Trump attempted to reframe the comment at a rally in Texas: “Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles if you want to see some bad things happen… We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities.”
The remarks targeted a city built around the Navy and Marine Corps. Over 115,000 active-duty service members are stationed in San Diego, including about one in six active-duty sailors and one in four active-duty Marines, according to the San Diego Military Advisory Council. That includes Naval Base Point Loma, a submarine hub just down the road from PLNU, and nearby Camp Pendleton, which is home to the 1st Marine Division.
While there has been debate over the meaning of Trump’s statement, Lindsey Lupo, a political science professor at PLNU, doesn’t read the remark as strategy.
“I don’t think it was anything more than that,” Lupo said. “[I] just thought, what state does he not like, and what cities exist in that state?”
Still, she found it troubling. “When you are in an act of conflict with a country that you believe to have nuclear capabilities, there’s a lot about that off-the-cuff comment that feels irresponsible and dangerous,” Lupo said.
When asked how people in San Diego and military families might feel about the statement, Lupo said, “My hunch is that they’re just like the American population,” Lupo said, explaining how some saw the remarks as a joke while others saw it as dangerous.
Some are taking this statement more seriously. A military-affiliated student who requested anonymity because military regulations restrict their public speech said the idea deserves more seriousness than a rally line.
“It’s a dangerous concept to goad an enemy into an attack,” the student said. “To imply that a foreign power has the capacity to attack the American mainland is concerning. … It raises questions about our security measures and how well we are preparing our forces at home to repel a strike.”
Trump’s comments have since drawn responses from local, state and federal officials, as well as members of the Point Loma community. The war with Iran and its effects, including higher gas prices, continue to shape the conversation in a city home to more than 115,000 active-duty service members.
Grace Chaves